United States Department of the Interior

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT Billings Field Office
5001 Southgate Drive
Billings, Montana 59101-4669

August 1, 2013

After consideration of public input during scoping the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range (PMWHR) Fertility Control Modification Preliminary Environmental Assessment (EA) DOI-BLM- MT-010-2013-0034 and unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) are available for a 30 day public review and comment period. The documents will be available at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Billings Field Office (BiFO) website athttp://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/fo/billings_field_office/wildhorses/pryorherd.html. The comment period will be conducted beginning August 6, 2013 and ending on September 6, 2013

This EA is tiered to the PMWHR/Territory EA (MT-010-08-24) and Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP) May 2009. This tiered EA has been prepared to analyze the impacts associated to wild horses and other resources from modification to the current fertility control prescription. The analysis from the HMAP and the 2011 Fertility Control EA are incorporated by reference. All other impacts and affected environment are already described and analyzed in the HMAP and subsequent FONSI and Decision Record (DR). These documents are also available at the BLM web address above.

Comments about the EA or unsigned FONSI can be sent to blm_mt_wildhorse@blm.gov or at the letterhead address by close of business September 6, 2013. To best ensure interested party’s comments are received, comments can be sent in a written form and mailed or hand delivered to the Billings Field Office. The BLM will consider any substantive comments and revise the EA or FONSI as appropriate. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment, including your personal identifying information, may be publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Thank you for your interest in the management of the PMWHR by the Billings Field Office. If you have any questions concerning the EA or unsigned FONSI, please contact Jared Bybee, Montana/Dakotas State Wild Horse and Burro Specialist, at (406) 896-5223.

FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT (FONSI) ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT DOI-BLM-MT-0010-2013-0034-EA
(Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range Fertility Control Modification Preliminary Environmental Assessment
Tiered to the
Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range/Territory Environmental Assessment And Herd Management Area Plan May 2009)

This unsigned FONSI and EA (DOI-BLM-MT-0010-2013-0034-EA) is to modify the current fertility control prescription and apply fertility control to nearly every mare on the PMWHR through 2015 in order to help maintain the appropriate management level of 90-120 wild horses and reduce the need for a large scale gather. The modification to the current prescription would begin in the fall of 2013 and last through 2015 (the life of the current prescription). The modification to the fertility control would consist of applying primer doses to in the fall to mares in the one year old age class (when they are not quite two) and any mare that has not ever been primed in the fall of 2013. Mares ages 5-10 years old that have offspring on the range that are one year old or older would be given a booster. The rest of the treatment would continue as currently is. This would continue in 2014 and 2015. Treatments would still be designed to treat mares before becoming pregnant which in the spring, however in 2014 and 2015 boosters would be applied any time of the year. The EA is available for a 30-day public review and comment period beginning on August 6, 2013, and will end on September 6, 2013. The documents are available on the Billings Field Office website at http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/fo/billings_field_office/wildhorses/pryorherd.html.

Based on the analysis of potential environmental impacts in the attached EA and consideration of the significance criteria in 40 CFR 1508.27, I have determined that with proposed mitigating measures incorporated as part of the proposed action this would not result in significant impacts on the human environment. An environmental impact statement (EIS) is not required.

The decision to approve or deny a modification of the current fertility control prescription to mares within PMWHR, and if appropriate a signed FONSI with rationale, will be released after consideration of public comments and completion of the EA.